


The Second

by JenCforCarolina



Series: Selene [13]
Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Destiny 2, Post-Towerfall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-25 22:58:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12543156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenCforCarolina/pseuds/JenCforCarolina
Summary: Selene is missing the mentor she may no longer need. Ylem is searching for a replacement to the one she never got.Featuring headcanons pertaining to things such as lightbonding between close teammates and friends, the kinderguardian mentorship program, and calling fresh Warlocks "shorttails" for their short robes.





	The Second

Selene paused in her stroll towards the Warlock Vanguard’s new station. Ikora was giving her a suspicious look. Not suspicion directed at Selene, particularly, but a _look_ that made Selene wary. It was a look of a Warlock with a plan.

“Wasn’t trying to interrupt.” She said defensively from a dozen paces off, glancing abruptly between the Vanguard and the other very new Warlock beside her. “I’ll wait my turn.”

“No, no, we had just concluded. Come, Warlock.” Ikora beckoned her over. The companion, a dainty Awoken, looked startled, at least to Selene’s analysis. Her gaze fluttered between Ikora and the Exo.

“What business do you have?” Ikora pressed gently, words that would be rude from any other source. Selene produced the stone from under her arm, letting it go. It hung in the air before them, listing gently.

“Pulled it out of the crevice in the sludge, leading up to the shard.” She explained. “Thought it might be of some interest. Might want to put it indoors.”

“Indeed.” Ikora swept a hand over it, under it, watched with calculated interest as the foot long chunk of jagged earth shifted like a candleflame in a breeze. “Would you be willing to return to that location?”

“Now? I guess. Do you want a bigger rock?”

“No, thank you. This will occupy the interests of many for now. I have other plans for research I wish carried out.” She looked now at the junior Warlock, who was still silent and still looked unsettled in her short robes. “I would like a study done of the shard itself, moreover the Light that surrounds it. A meditation.”

“Oh.” She seemed to light up, a little nervousness falling away. “I can do that.”

Ikora nodded approval. “But because the area is still presumed dangerous, I would like you both to go. I am not comfortable with sending either of you out alone at the moment. The heavy Guardian presence in the EDZ means the Fallen are much more manageable than they once were, but the shard and it’s power is still a mystery. We will not take unnecessary risks.”

Selene blinked displeasure in her throat lights. She’d been cleared for solitary patrols months before the attack on the City, and had been trekking alone through the EDZ for weeks now. She knew she wasn’t the proper choice for a meditation, but didn’t particularly like the insinuation that she was also no longer allowed to go out alone. Or that a shorttail was going to babysit _her_. Selene knew she wasn’t great but she at least expected Ikora to send someone older than her to play monitor.

The Awoken, however, responded with a dutiful bow, then turned to Selene, and bowed in her direction as well. “My name is Ylem, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Selene.” She replied, rocking on her heels a bit.

“Whenever you are both ready.” Ikora instructed, catching the floating stone in a contactless pull. Her fingers dragged a course for it through the air, bringing it down from eye-height where it had drifted. She had effectively detached from the conversation, the pair of young Warlocks left staring at one another.

“My ship is still on top deck.” Selene offered, jerking her thumb. “If that’s convenient.”

“I haven’t got one.” Ylem admitted shyly. “I mean, the one I had was in the old Tower and…”

“Yeah.” Selene understood. The Guardians were still recovering, obviously would be for some time. “Mine will fit us.”

Ylem nodded and fell in step, following at Selene’s side. They let a marginally comfortable silence lapse, before Ylem broke it with a conversational question. “So, how long have you been a Guardian?”

“Um.” Selene skipped a beat, thinking, remembering. “Six years now. A bit more.”

“Wow.” She seems a little awestruck. “You look older. I’ve been here almost three years.”

“Yeah.” Selene looks down at the robes the Awoken wears. Cream and gold, the panels not reaching far beyond her knees. “You’re a shorttail, it’s pretty obvious. You could change though, if it’s been a year.”

“Ikora said I have to earn longer robes.”

“You telling me you haven’t found any glimmer in a year?” The Awoken’s eyes shifted uncomfortably. “Really?”

Ylem chewed her lip, ominous bright eyes regarding Selene. She’d thought Eyahn’s eyes were an unsettling outlier, but it seemed all Awoken glowed like chromatic coals from sunken eye sockets. It didn’t diminish her beauty though, Ylem had an aesthetic not far from Ikora herself, though the junior was daintier and more delicately built. 

“I didn’t want to spend it frivolously.” She mumbled.

“It’s not frivolous to get good boots with solid guards.” Selene chastised. “And then proper long robes to cover them.”

“Alright.” Ylem knotted her fingers together, working them over one another, weaving in and out of knuckles and digits. Selene just shook her head and carried on leading. 

“So, Ylem? You pick that name yourself?”

“Found it in a book. It seemed nice.” Selene couldn’t disagree. “Did you pick yours?”

Selene paused for a moment. “Yeah.” She realized. “But it was a long time ago. Enough that it doesn’t matter.”

“Okay.” Ylem accepted the answer, didn’t ask anything further. Selene could think of nothing else to say, so silence reigned.

It was a quiet ride to the EDZ. Ylem moved to the back room of the ship to meditate, Selene stayed in the cockpit, monitoring her Ghost’s piloting. Coach had never had trouble before, but he’d been jumpier since the loss and regaining of Light. He was more comfortable with her secondary calculations. The calamity had changed both of them. 

Thankfully the flight wasn’t long, they soon passed over the Farm, and Selene stood and palmed the controls for the door to the back room. This ship was smaller than her last, not even with space for a cot in the back, but Ylem knelt on the floor in the thin hall, eyes closed and head bowed. She looked up and blinked as the door slid open, but did not look startled. With a soft flurry of Light and downward gust, she flitted to her feet. 

Selene whirred a tone of indifference, muttering: “Fancy.” Ylem shrunk into her shoulders and clasped her hands before her self-consciously.

“I mean- it’s neat.” Selene corrected herself, hurriedly. “That’s cool.” After a beat of silence, she gestured to the cockpit. “Come on, we gotta transmat soon.”

Ylem shuffled into the cockpit, standing rigid, knees locked and feet shoulder width apart, arms akimbo.

“Relax.” Selene drawled, “You’ll spawn with fused joint or something.”

The girl’s eyes widened in a frightened stare.

“Gosh I was kidding.” Selene buzzed, not really enjoying the company of someone who took everything so literally. “Ghosts are good, they won’t do that to you, I’ve never heard of it happening. Look will you just chill? Stand like a normal person.”

She gave the other a shove, to which there was no response, she stood rooted firmly in place. When Selene retracted her arm, however, her feet moved a hair closer together, her shoulders dropped some, and her hands shifted to swing idly at her sides.

Selene whirred, shifting her weight onto her left foot and holding out a hand to summon her favorite auto rifle, looking it over for scratches she might not have noticed last time. There weren’t any, she checked her few weapons meticulously, keeping them in pristine condition. It was one of the few things she knew how to do.

Ylem parroted the action, holding out her hand and receiving a hand canon that had seen some use. A scout rifle formed on her back, looking brand new, the paint around the grip wasn’t even worn. Selene elected not to ask, but wondered privately if this was one of the first times this shorttail had been out in the field.

“Buckets on.” She said, and Coach materialized her helm around her head. Ylem’s Ghost did the same, a plain grey training helm. Selene remembered them from her early years. 

Transmat brought them down to the dead zone, boots touching down on the side of an ancient road, winding its way towards the ominous curve of smoking white metal. Ylem took a moment to gawk, before trotting after Selene, who had already begun walking.

“How long until they send us out alone? A decade?” She asked.

“Depends. Took about five years for me but, I’m kind of a special case.”

“Oh.” Ylem glanced away, awkwardly. “I figured it was just like, a schooling thing. You spend one year in the crucible getting beat up, and then a few years with a mentor, and then…” She rolled her shoulder, readjusting her bond against her side. “Were you special? Like in a prodigy way or…?”

Selene laughed, a violent burst that made her vocal processor skip. “Oh no, no, I was a menace. The absolute disappointment of the Vanguard.”

Ylem’s brow pinched in a sympathetic frown. “That seems harsh.”

“Just because you weren’t there.” The Exo snorted a blast of air through the gaps between the lights in her cheeks. “I was awful. Still pretty bad. But I guess, better.”

Ylem hummed a noncommittal noise, glancing between her and the road.

“Mentors help.” She continued, glancing away and focusing on their path forward, but still feeling the trailing eyes until Ylem let out a soft sigh. Selene glanced back and 

“I was going to have a mentor but he… no one has seen him since…”

Selene nodded to cut her off. It wasn’t necessary to continue. But a tiny sniffle was heard over the comms, cut just short by the light pop of Ylem’s end being muted.

“I haven’t seen my mentor either.” She offered tentatively. “But I know she’s out there. I can feel her Light, I felt it come back into the world.”

“You did? You can feel things like that?”

“When you’ve been on a team for a long time, it gets that way. Just being around the same people day in and day out for half a decade… it brings you really close in the Light.”

“That sounds wonderful.” Ylem’s voice was lower, did not sound happy at all.

“Problem?” Selene asked, a little defensive.

“I just… don’t have anything like that. Never had a real fireteam.”

Selene caught herself feeling guilty for snapping, smoothed the thoughts away. “Ah you’ll get one. I’m such a brat I thought no one would take me, but Auburn did.”

Ylem didn’t respond, lapsed into a morose silence. Her gaze was down, she wasn’t paying attention. Minutes passed. At one point, her foot caught on a crack in the road and she caught herself before picking her steps more carefully. Selene looked back at her, annoyed at first by the mood, but finding a bit of sympathy creeping into her mind.

“Here, look.” Selene halted, grabbing Ylem by the hand and leading her aside. The woman made a noise of protest but did not struggle, followed Selene off the road and into the thicket. She found a hollow in the cliffside, not quite a cave but a sheltered place to hide from sight. Glancing around, seeing no immediate signs of enemies, she motioned for Ylem to sit. 

With a curious tilt of her head, she settled on her knees, hands folded in her lap. She was studying Selene intently, as the Exo knelt before her in a similar pose.

“I think…” Selene began. “If I focus, I can maybe show you how it feels. Right? We’re Warlocks, that means we can do weird things.”

“It means we are more attuned to the natural flow of the Light, rather than just it’s weaponized forms, yes.” Ylem replied, with a patience that reminded Selene irritably of Ikora’s early lessons.

“Alright, alright no need to be patronizing.” She whirred.

“Sorry.”

“Here just, come on.” Selene stuck out her hands, grasped for Ylem’s, who relinquished the dainty gloved fingers with a bit of caution. 

Selene shifted her fingers to touch Ylem’s wrists, feeling the other’s hands mimic the same motion. She shut off her optics, dimmed her audio inputs, and focused on Auburn and the Light simultaneously. 

She wasn’t sure, exactly, how to go about this, so she started with memories. Venusian days spent indoors, staring at the acid rain or metallic snow, glitterdust gilding silver armor. Of trailing through the jungle, the solid secure knot of Auburn’s presence in front of her, beside her, behind her. Nights in the room with a heavy weight on her lap and another at her knees, the arc streams circling through all three of them. The spike of a nightmare in Auburn’s node, the way it made Eyahn twitch as a jolt of something akin to adrenaline spiked through their conjoined Light, and the way they all soothed again when Selene, the conduit, laid an arm across her mentor’s shoulders. The way Auburn had looked when they had first met, the outline of sturdiness atop a wall, looking like she was right where she belonged.

She spent the longest focusing on the most vivid memory. One of blue-hot Martian skies, of frantic Vex crackling and the noise and chaos of Auburn’s loudest machine gun at her back. Her external awareness felt Ylem’s grip on her wrists tighten but her mind carried on the memory, the crackle of arc and fury behind her as she looked out at a storm, meditated for the first time in her life. This was the second, now, and the trance was still there. She remembered vividly the magnetic attraction as the lightning bonded to every fiber of her soul, like an alternate, ethereal version of herself was infused while her physical self jolted and convulsed. There was the fury of the arc and then the calm of after, and the crackling new link with her mentor, of similarity, of common ground, of pride. Pride… That was the fundamental component of their link, and this memory was the first time she had really realized it. She allowed her senses to come back to her after that. There was no further she could delve.

Ylem was breathing visibly when Selene looked up again. “Wow.” She whispered, all wonderment.

“It worked?”

“Yes, oh yes. I think so? I felt presences, different ones…. but the same I think? I was like there was another hand in between ours. It changed in essence but I think it was the same person the whole time.”

“I didn’t feel a hand.” Selene shivered, gently extracted hers from Ylem’s, rubbing her palms and her wrists. “I just thought really hard.”

“You must have been too focused. I swear it was nearly physical.”

“You didn’t see like. Pictures or anything?”

Ylem shook her head no, and Selene was secretly grateful, had not realized how much she hadn’t really wanted to expose herself in that way, and how she regretted the decision already. It had felt like too much too soon.

“I felt only Light essence. She felt warm! But…” Ylem tilted her head, considering. “She felt different, a lot brighter… in a way. Like a flickering spotlight, very bright but wavering. You are a… stormcaller right?” At Selene’s nod, she continued. “She felt like a stormcaller too, but at the same time did not.”

Selene grunted affirmation. “Right, she’s a Striker.”

“A Titan? As your mentor? I didn’t know that was possible.”

“She’s the only one who would take me. I said I was a menace, remember?”

“You sure… it wasn’t because you weren’t trained by a Warlock?” Ylem asked delicately. Selene scoffed.

“I’d have turned out _awful_ if a Warlock tried to mentor me. I’d probably be _final-dead_.” Ylem cringed faintly. 

“Warlocks think too long. The older they are the more they do. When I was learning, the Void tried to eat me. Auburn pulled me out. A Warlock would have dallied, tried other things, or just taken notes while I was devoured by my own Light. Auburn dove in after me.”

“Titans shouldn’t even be able to-”

“I _know_.” Selene impressed, balling her fists on her knees. “But she did, anyway, somehow. I’d want no one else at my back.”

Ylem nodded solemnly, a little intimidated perhaps. “I couldn’t do it, is all. I don’t think. They’re too different for me.”

“I’ll introduce you one day. You can see her for yourself.” Selene insisted, 

“You already did, kind of, in a way.” Ylem paused awkwardly, rocked back and leaned against the stone behind her, wrapping her arms around folded knees. “She did seem… nice?”

“She is. And you know, she has lots of friends. Maybe she can find you a mentor. Or just help until you find one that works for you.”

“Yeah? Maybe.” She kept whatever thoughts she had to herself. She took in and let out a large sigh, and looked up at Selene. “We should probably continue the mission, right?”

“Yeah, probably. But it’s not crazy important, just research. We can take our time.”

Ylem made a strangled little noise of protest.

“Re- _lax_.” Selene demanded, clapping a hard metallic hand on one of her dainty shoulders. “It’s research, not a strike. We have no timetable, no one breathing in our ears. Loosen up.”

If possible, Ylem pulled her shoulders in tighter, stiffening up more.

Selene practically growled a tone of frustration. “That’s the opposite-”

“I know!” The voice from the other Warlock was light and teasing, but in a hesitant sort of way. Selene took a millisecond to process before she began to chuckle.

“You contrary little shorttail kinderguardian…” She marveled, throat lights twinkling despite herself. “You _do_ have a sense of humor.” Ylem joined in with her own giggles, and she cupped her hands to cover her mouth despite the helmet in her way.

Selene stood, offered a hand. Ylem took it and allowed herself to be pulled by Selene while pushed by her lift of Light.

“You _almost_ did that like a normal person.” She sniffed.

“I could teach you if you like.” Ylem offered. It gave Selene pause.

“Yeah? I could teach you some things back.”

“Sounds like a reasonable arrangement.”

“Yeah.” Selene nodded as the pair gathered their guns and fell in stride beside one another, moving back on track. “Yeah it does.”


End file.
